


Not Impossible

by whiteraven1606



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angels, Angst, Angst and Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death Fix, Child Dean Winchester, Child Sam Winchester, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Other, Time Travel, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-16
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-14 08:29:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Sam hunt something that's making people disappear. The Doctor would call the something a Weeping Angel. Then the TARDIS and the Impala...well, that's complicated. As in they have a baby car, complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Then Comes Marriage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Adaquinn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adaquinn/gifts).



> This was born entirely because I was trying to cheer up Adaquinn yesterday. Since she laughed, I thought I'd write it down.
> 
> I haven't seen that much of Supernatural. I'm into the second season with bits of later seasons. There won't be any spoilers for the current season.
> 
> Doctor Who is spoiler free for the current season, but anything before that is fair game.

****

Sam huffed as they stared up at the abandoned house. “Dean, I don’t think...”

“Come on, Sammy.” Dean grabbed a shotgun from the Impala’s trunk. “Let’s go find out what’s making people disappear.”

“I still think we should wait for Cas.”

Dean turned so he was walking backwards for a few steps. “He’ll show up when he’s damn good and ready.” He turned back towards the house. “Three people have disappeared in the last week. We aren’t waiting.”

Sam grimaced and followed his brother.

****

Dean moved past a statue in the side yard and suddenly felt like he was being watched. He turned in a circle looking for the source and frowned at the statue. “Weird.” He had thought the head had been turned more towards the house. He shook his head. “Statues don’t move, Dean. You know that.”

He slipped into the house and started looking for signs of the missing people.

After going through several rooms, Dean moved back across the house to yell up at Sam that he’d not found anything. As he went down the hallway, Dean stopped short. 

“Shit.” He stared at the statue inside the door of the room leading to the side yard. “Sam!”

“Dean?” Sam’s voice came from the far corner of the upstairs. 

Dean backed away from the statue and turned his head to yell again for Sam. “Get down here!” He turned back and stared at the statue. It was closer and had a hand outstretched. “Now!”

Sam’s comping steps moved fast across the ceiling above Dean. He stood staring at the statue and as Sam’s steps started down the stairs, Dean blinked.

He gasped as he opened his eyes to find the statue had moved even closer and was making different face. “Sam! The statue is moving!” Dean kept his eyes on it. “I blinked and it moved!”

Sam stopped on the stairs. “What?”

Dean slid sideways while keeping his eyes on the statue. “It's moving when no one is looking.”

“Dean.” Sam sounded exasperated. 

“I will kill you when I’m not being chased by a statue, Sam!” Dean wasn’t good enough at winking, he knew that. He needed Sam. “I need another set of eyes, now, Sam.”

Sam hurried down the rest of the stairs and came up behind Dean. “Woah.”

“Yeah.” Dean used his hand out behind himself to tell him where his brother was so he could step to bring himself more between Sam and the threat. “I’m not shitting you. It moved.”

Sam looked at Dean and then at the statue. “Okay. So, how do we kill it?”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “I have no idea.” He needed to blink, his eyes were starting to burn. “I need to blink, Sam, watch that thing.” 

Sam nodded and just as Dean started to blink, Sam started to turn his head. “You really think...”

Dean tried to not blink, but, well, that never worked for him. During the blink he heard things, Sam gasp, the creak of the floor, and then there was a breeze on his face.

Dean opened his eyes to find himself in a field of grass. “Well, just great.” He looked around, then down at his shotgun in his hands. “Prefect.” He started for the little dirt road that ran along the side of the field. “That thing had better not have gotten Sam because I'm going to punch him.”

****

The Doctor frowned at the psychic paper in its wallet. “That’s not even nice.”

Amy smirked and took the paper from him. “What? Did you make it call you the biggest child in the universe again?” She read it and frowned. “That’s a lot of cussing.”

Rory took the paper from Amy. “Cussing?” He raised his eyebrows. “Is this a distress call or a complaint?”

“Bit of both.” The Doctor flipped a lever on the TARDIS’ console. “Want to see if we can help?”

Amy lifted her chin and leaned on the edge of the console. “Of course. You never get anything on the psychic paper that isn’t a planet blowing up or River needing a catch.” She frowned and took the wallet back from Rory. “Is this River?”

The Doctor snatched it from Amy. “River always signs her notes. This was sent by someone else.” He flipped another lever and darted around the console to twist a knob as the TARDIS started to fly.

****

Dean was going to kill something soon. He flopped down into a trench next to a soldier that was staring at him. “What do you mean _world war_?”

The guy shook his head. “You are crazy, mate. How’d you live without knowing we’re at war? Germany has been bombing London for months now.”

Dean took a deep breath as a flash of fighter planes went overhead. He stared at the point of the trench that blocked his view of the planes as their sound faded away. They had propellers not jet engines. “Son of a bitch.” He started to ask the soldier the date, but a clank sound came from down the trench a ways and then the soldier was scrambling away as a tank fell into the trench with the turret pointed at them.

Dean ran for the tank.

****

Sam stared at the statue once he turned his head back around. “Wha...Dean? Dean!” He kept he eyes on the statute because it was closer and holding its hands different now. Sam used his foot to feel around for Dean on the floor. 

When he didn’t find anything, Sam started easing back so he could keep the statue in view while he looked at the floor for any sign of Dean.

“What did you do with Dean?” Sam used his fingers to keep one eye open as he blinked the other eye. Then he switched and did the second eye. It didn’t hurt to be very careful. Sam pulled his phone from his pocket and hit the speed dial without looking. “Bobby?”

“What?”

Sam put his back to the wall by the door and stared at the statue. “I have a problem.”

“You don’t think?” Bobby sounded tired.

“Besides that. Have you ever come across a angel statue with a wreath of leaves around the head that moves when no one is looking at it? And it can make people disappear.”

“It what?” There was a rustle of cloth and then Bobby sounded further away. “It is an angel statue?”

“Robe, wings, and the wreath of leaves.” Sam tilted his head to one side and then the other, keeping his eyes fixed on the angel so his eyes rolled around in their sockets to help keep them moist. “Dean blinked and it moved. Now Dean’s missing and I’m staring at it.”

“You can’t get out of there?”

“It made Dean disappear. I want to know what happened and I want Dean back, Bobby. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Right.” Bobby sounded like he was digging through his books. “I’m looking. Don’t let it get you, Sam.”

Sam carefully closed each eye one at a time. “I won’t.”

****

The Doctor throw open the doors of the TARDIS and then yanked them right back closed. “Oh, no, no.” He stocked back over to the console. “You brought us to the wrong place, old girl.” 

Amy eased the door open. “It's a field.” She turned towards the Doctor as he stomped back over to pull the door closed. Amy frowned. “Why is that wrong?”

“World War II. Nothing is safe out there. Amy...”

Rory opened the door. “Doctor, there’s footprints in the mud that just appear and then lead off that way.” Rory pointed at the little dirt road to the side of the field they were in. “Whoever it was had human shaped boots on.”

Amy bounced up and down a little. “Oh, come on! We need to help, don’t we?”

The Doctor sighed and straightened his bow tie. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

Outside there was the sound of a tank firing. 

****

Dean slid into the space under the bottom of the tank that the trench made. He scrambled up the backside of the tank as the tank fired down the trench. The soldier that Dean had been talking to was gone instantly. Dean scrambled from the tank over the top of the trench and down side of the little hill the trench digging had made.

“Cas! I need some help!” Dean hurried along the trench’s little hill as he listened to the tank grind in the dirt and rocks behind him. He grabbed up a rifle off a dead soldier. Checking the bolt, Dean grimaced as he grabbed ammo from the next body.

Hurrying back along the way he’d originally come before running into the now dead soldier, Dean loaded the rifle. He stopped as on the other side of the hedge he’d pushed his way through he heard voices. Raising the rifle, Dean stared as a man stumbled through the hedge.

“Oh!” The man put up his hands and turned his head to talk over his shoulder. “Found him!”

A pretty redhead and another man, in a suit, came from the hedge. Dean kept the rifle trained on them.

“You are hot.” The redhead smiled and pulled a cell phone from her pocket. “I’m Amy. Could I get a picture with you?”

The man who had shown up first turned towards Amy. “Could you at least not flirt until we know he isn’t going to kill us?” He turned back towards Dean. “Sorry. I’m Rory.” He turned back towards Amy. “Amy’s husband.”

Dean warily watched the other man come closer slowly. The man tilted his head and touched the barrel of the rifle to push it down and away.

“I’m the Doctor. We’re here to help.”

Dean side stepped away from the Doctor. “What are you?”

Amy and Rory came forward to stand on either side of the Doctor. Amy frowned. “What does he mean?”

The Doctor smiled and touched his bow tie. “He can tell I’m an alien. That’s very observant of you. Especially for a human.” The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “You have a name?”

“Dean.” He shook his head. “There aren’t aliens. I meant _what_ are you? You don’t seem like a demon, but you don’t move just right. Angel?”

Amy and Rory exchanged looks behind the Doctor’s back. 

The Doctor dropped his hands to his side. “I’m not from Earth. I’m an alien.”

Dean smirked. “Sure you...” He turned his head at the sounds of the tank coming closer. “We’ve got to move.”

The Doctor grabbed Dean’s hand and pulled him into the hedge, as he pushed Amy and Rory ahead of them. “Run.”

****

Sam listened to Bobby rummage through his books as he continued to stare at the statue. He prayed for Castiel to show up. “I need some help.”

Bobby cursed. “I don’t have anything on moving statues, Sam. Why is it you two idjits always find _new_ monsters?”

Sam almost smiled. “Just lucky, I guess. Bobby, do you think this thing can move faster than the Impala?”

“I don’t know.” There was the sound of a book hitting a hard surface. “Try calling Cas.”

“I have.” Sam wiped his cheek where one eye was starting to water. “He hasn’t shown up yet. He comes for Dean better than for me. I almost hope he’s with Dean right now.”

“Can you get out of there, Sam?”

Sam felt the doorjamb under his elbow. “No.” He could back out clear to the Impala in the driveway without losing sight of the statue. He wasn’t leaving without his brother. “It has Dean, Bobby.”

“I know.” Bobby huffed. “You know he wouldn’t want you to get killed, Sam.”

“I know I won’t leave him wherever the statue sent him. That’s what I know, Bobby.”

****

Dean fell through the blue police box doors and landed in the biggest room he’d been in for a long time that wasn’t a warehouse. He lay on his back as the others landed around him, Amy on top of him, and the doors swung closed on their own. Dean eased Amy off himself and onto Rory.

Rory smiled at him just a little. “Thanks.”

Amy pouted and then smiled at Dean. “You are taking this well. Most people stare with their mouths open.”

Dean shrugged. “Not that surprising.” He looked around from his place on the floor. “Bigger on the inside, nice.”

The Doctor hurried over to the console as outside there was a explosive sound of a tank firing and the whole room shook from it. “Let’s move a bit.” He flipped a switch and whole place shivered for a moment before settling down.

Dean sat up as the shaking lessened. “Where are we?”

Amy leaned into Dean’s side. “Nowhere. Everywhere. He’ll tell you space is like a banana.”

Rory offered Dean a hand to stand up. “It isn’t anything like that.”

The Doctor smiled from where he was leaning against the railing around the console’s platform. “You have a last name, Dean?”

Dean rubbed the back of his head where he’d smacked the floor of the whatever-he-was-in, ship maybe. “I’m Dean Winchester.”

The Doctor froze. “Winchester?” He turned slowly towards Dean. “Dean Winchester, born January 24, 1979 in Lawrence, Kansas, Earth?”

Dean narrowed his eyes at the Doctor. “How do you know that?”

“Oh dear.”

Amy and Rory moved closer to the Doctor.

“What’s wrong?” Amy looked from the Doctor to Dean. “What’s so important that you know his name? You usually only know names if the person was interesting...” She stared at Dean.

Dean stood still, wishing he hadn’t lost the rifle in the last desperate lunge into the ship before the tank could fire on them.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. “Nothing.” He smiled at them and spread his hands. “Nothing dire. Let’s get you home, shall we?”

Amy hurried up the stairs and grabbed the Doctor’s arm. “Doctor.”

He dropped his head and took a deep breath. “Amy, some things are complex.”

Dean moved a little closer. “Complex?” He laughed and shook his head. “Man, I’ve gone to Hell and pulled out by an angel. I’ve watched demons kill people I couldn’t save. So, yeah, some things are real damn complex.”

The Doctor nodded. “Yes.”

Rory moved closer, looking confused. “Hell? As in actually Hell, a place...Hell?”

The Doctor waved his hand. “Layers of space and time. They get named things...”

Dean glared. “It was Hell.”

With a wave of his hand, the Doctor turned more towards Rory. “Just go with it.”

Rory nodded. “Sure, okay.” He looked at Dean. “What were you doing in World War II?”

“I have no idea.” Dean scratched his head. “I was being chased by a statue and then I was in that field.”

“Chased?” Rory looked towards the Doctor.

“Statue?” Amy grabbed Dean’s sleeve. “Statues that move when you aren’t looking?”

Dean nodded. “It followed me in from the house’s yard.”

The Doctor frowned. “That isn’t good.” He tapped the screen above his console. “That isn’t good at all.”

****

Sam gasped. “Okay, not good.”

Bobby’s voice sounded even more annoyed. “What happened?”

Sam pushed his hair back out of his face and started backing through the door. “Uh, I might have blinked on accident.”

“Might have?”

Sam felt his way down the stairs, watching the one eye of the statue that was visible through the doorway. “It nearly had me. I’m moving out of the house.”

“Dammit, Sam.”

He backed into the Impala’s front bumper. Feeling his way along, Sam got round the front end to the driver’s door. He stood there and bit his lip. “Dean has the keys. And the spares are in my coat in the backseat.”

“Can you feel for them without looking?”

“I don’t think so.” Sam edged his way to the back door and pulled it open. He sat on the edge of the seat slowly, making sure he could still see the statue. He reached backwards across the car. His fingertips could barely reach the pile of coat on the other side of the car. If he went around he’d lose sight of the statue. Turning to get the coat would be just as bad. “Damn.”

“You can’t reach, can you?”

Sam thunked his head on the edge of the roof of the car. “No.” He huffed. “Bobby, maybe I should let it take me.”

“What! No. No, Sam.”

“I might end up wherever it sent Dean.”

“No.”

Sam wiped at the tears on one his cheeks. He carefully closed one eye and then the other, staring at the statue’s outstretched hand as he did. “Bobby, I’m stuck.”

Dean stepped up beside him as a guy rushed towards the house and stopped short of the porch. “That’s because you are an idiot, Sam.” He took the phone from Sam. “Bobby, we’ll be at your place later. We’re fine.” He hung up on Bobby’s sputtering.

“Dean!” Sam tried to look at his brother, but his eyes stayed firmly glued to the statue. “Where did you go? Are you okay?”

Dean crouched down in front of him and looked over his shoulder at the house. “Yeah, fine. Just, you know, time travel.”

“Time travel?”

A redhead appeared at Dean’s elbow and peered in Sam’s eyes. “Oh, good, no angels in there.”

Sam frowned. “What?”

Dean shrugged. “Weeping Angels. That’s what the psycho statues are called.”

The redhead nodded. “They eat your potential time. The Doctor got a bit excited when he explained it so I’m not quite sure if that’s right.”

Dean checked Sam’s eyes. “I ended up in World War II in France somewhere. I figure that his explanation is close enough.” He jerked a thumb at the girl. “This is Amy.”

Amy waved. “Hi. The Doctor says you're the true vessel for Lucifer and to tell you that he owes the Doctor for some chess game they had.” She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it. He says stuff like that all the time.”

Sam blinked. “Okay.” He pushed them away so he could stand. “What about the statue?”

****

Dean didn’t blame Sam for hovering over him. Not this time. The statue was almost to the doorway, one hand outstretched. The Doctor was talking at it in an angry tone of voice.

Rory turned towards them as they approached. “Don’t stare at the eyes more than you have to. Pretend it has knees, that's what I do.”

Sam cocked his head. “What is he doing?”

Rory shrugged. “Arguing. He does that sometimes. He’ll give it up in a bit.” He turned back and stared at the statue where the knees would be. “Like the car, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Dean beamed and turned to look at his baby. “Where’d the car go?”

Sam turned to look too. “Where...What happened?”

Rory kept staring at the statue. “Doctor? The car is missing.”

The Doctor stood up from his crouch to the side of the statue. “Of course it is. The TARDIS took her for a date.”

“What?” Dean moved to the Doctor’s side. “The _what_ took my baby?”

“The TARDIS.” The Doctor knocked on the statue’s forehead. “The blue box. She’s my TARDIS. The Weeping Angels almost stole her once, but I got her back.”

“The DVD’s.”

Dean turned to look at Sam. “What?”

Sam shrugged. “There’s these DVD’s that have a half conversation of a guy talking to the screen. He talks about not blinking and a box.”

“That was me.” The Doctor smiled at them and then turned back to the statue.

Sam looked confused. “No, it wasn’t. The DVD’s had a different man.” He leaned towards Dean. “ Vessel?”

The Doctor turned and patted Rory’s shoulder at he passed him. “Don’t blink.”

Rory nodded. “I know that.”

Dean and Sam followed the Doctor down the porch steps.

Sam caught the Doctor’s elbow. “You can’t be the same man as on the DVD.”

The Doctor turned and smiled at them. “I can. My species just changes appearances.” He spread his hands. "Alien."

Amy came up and leaned on him. “The whole body changes.” She poked the Doctor. “The TARDIS isn’t where she parked.”

The Doctor grinned. “She’ll be back. So will the Impala. Most important car in the multiverse, that Impala.” He patted Dean’s shoulder. “You should be proud.”

Dean smiled then frowned. “I am proud. She’s my baby.” He pointed at the statue standing beyond Rory. “How do we get rid of the statue?”

“Yeah, Doctor, how? We don’t have a convenient crack in the universe to drop it into this time.”

The Doctor straightened his bow tie. “Might as well call in the angel.” He grinned. After a few moments it faded. “Oh, come on, that as a good one.”

Amy just shook her head. “Not really. What angel?”

Rory gestured at the statue. “Besides the bad one.”

The Doctor flung an arm around Dean’s shoulder. “Dean’s angel.”

Dean pulled out of the Doctor’s hold. “My angel? I don’t have an angel.”

Sam gave his brother a you-are-being-stupid look. “Castiel? You know, that angel.”

“He isn’t mine.” Dean huffed out a breath as everyone except Rory looked at him. “Fine.” He looked up. “Cas, we could use some help now.”

Amy poked Dean in the arm. “You could say please.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Please, Cas.”

Castiel appeared in the middle of the group. He blinked at Dean. “You called?”

****

They all sat on the house’s porch when Castiel was done hauling the Weeping Angel to the depths of space. 

Amy kicked her feet back and forth. “You are sure they’ll come back on their own?”

The Doctor looked up from his book. “Of course, they will.” He waved his hand. “Probably.”

Dean shot to his feet. “Probably? What to you mean probably? Your ship-space-thing, bigger on the inside lady-in-a-box has stolen my baby!”

The Doctor shook his head. “She didn’t steal her. They like to talk when they are in the same time stream and on the same continent. I think TARDIS has a crush.”

Castiel looked up from the patch of grass he’d been studying. “They are in a committed relationship.”

The Doctor grimaced at everyone else as they stared at him. “Well, I wasn’t going to mention it.”

Amy leaned back on her hands. “Is that why you knew Dean’s name?”

“No.” The Doctor tucked his book in his pocket and stood up as the sound of the TARDIS faded in. “Ah. Here we are.”

****


	2. Then Comes Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then the TARDIS and the Impala...well, that's complicated...they have a baby, complicated.

****

Dean turned in time to see the TARDIS fade in. It was pretty awesome, creepy, but awesome too. He turned in a circle looking for his baby. “Where’s my car?”

The Doctor’s eyebrows climbed. “Well, it appears she isn’t here.”

Dean shook his head at the stupidly obvious. “No shit.”

Castiel cocked his head as the Doctor started to push open the TARDIS’ door. “She would like you to pull the door open, please.”

Everyone stared at Castiel. The Doctor pulled the door closed and strode over to stand right in front of Castiel.

“How can you talk to her? She’s an eleventh dimensional matrix! She doesn't talk!”

Castiel pointed at the sign on the left side of the TARDIS’ doors. “It appears perfectly clear to me.”

The Doctor whirled to look at the sign that said ‘Pull to Open’ at the bottom. “Oh, right. Well, we...”

“Hey! Where is my car?” Dean looked from Cas to the Doctor and back. “Where?”

Amy leaned against the TARDIS. “Yeah, where? Impalas are big, right? So, where did it go, Doctor?”

Pushing the door open again, Doctor lead the way into the TARDIS. “Probably just parked somewhere close.” He tapped the console’s hanging screen and frowned. “Or she could be in another state.”

Sam blinked up at the ceiling as Dean gripped the railing of the stairs.

“Another state!” 

Sam pointed up and then twirled his finger around the console room. “Where are we?”

The Doctor smiled and patted Dean on the arm as he went down the stairs to pull on Sam to get him to sit down. “This is the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space.”

“Oh.” Sam nodded, blinked, frowned, and shook his head. “I’m lost.”

The Doctor smiled. “Not nearly.” He moved back to the top of the stairs. “Actually, I think...”

Dean’s cell phone started to ring. He looked at it and frowned as he answered the phone. “Hello, Bobby.”

“Where the hell are you?”

“I’m...well, that’s complicated.”

“What do you mean ‘complicated,’ Dean?” Bobby sounded like he was moving around, pacing maybe. “Why didn’t you at least tell me you were going to leave the Impala with me?”

“The Impala?” Dean stuck his head out the TARDIS’ doors and looked around. “Seriously? She’s there?”

“What are you talking about, Dean? She’s sitting in front of my house with the hood still warm.”

Dean shut the TARDIS’ door. “Just a second, Bobby.” He held the phone to his chest. “Doc, could we go to Bobby Singer’s house? My baby seems to be there.”

The Doctor smiled. “Of course. Everyone hold on!” He flipped a lever and the whole place started to shake. “Having a multidimensional being onboard will make it a bit bumpier than normal.”

Rory helped Amy into the jumpseat next to Sam. “Oh, great.”

Dean clung to the stair railing and put the phone back up to his ear. “Bobby, there’s going to be a blue police box in the salvage yard.”

****

Bobby stepped out onto his porch with a shotgun in hand as a blue box shape started to appear next to the Impala. It faded in and out for a few moments before being more solid looking. As soon as it couldn’t be seen through anymore the door popped open and Dean stepped out.

“Hey, Bobby.”

Bobby resettled his hat on his head. “Jeez, you idjits don’t do anything by half do you?”

Dean smiled tentatively and then turned to check his car. Bobby shook his head as more people than could comfortably fit into the box came out. Sam looked a bit green. Castiel looked like someone had ruffled his feathers. The couple looked curiously around them and the man after them looked clumsy.

Bobby headed back into his house to get the holy water and yelped at a little car shot across his boot. “What the hell?”

He bent down to look under his table and stared at the tiny car. “Dean! Sam!” He poked at the car with his shotgun and it _wiggled_ as it moved closer to the shotgun. Then it rubbed the end of the gun. “DEAN!”

Dean skidded into the house and frowned at the little car. “What is that?”

Bobby backed up and the car followed along. It looked like it was getting bigger. “I don’t know, Dean. It looks like a tiny Pirus.”

Dean crouched down and put out his hand. The car zipped over to him, the tires making little squeak noises on the floor as it turned. It pressed itself against Dean’s hand and rubbed. Dean yanked back and the little car sped off towards the kitchen, growing as it went.

“Holy shit.”

Bobby grabbed up the holy water and splashed some on Dean before he went after the car. The holy water just made the car dance in place and then it used its tiny wipers to clear off its windshield. “Okay.” The car stopped moving. Bobby felt stupid, but it was worth a try, maybe. “Uhm, could you go outside before you get much bigger?”

The car moved back and forth on its wheels for a few moments before speeding over to the door and turning circles.

Dean wiped his hand over his face. “Oh, man.”

Bobby kicked him in the leg. “Get it out of my house, Dean.”

Sam opened the door. “Everyone...Oh, wow.” He watched the car, now big enough for the roof to come up to Dean’s knee, turn a circle. Sam stepped back as the car pushed against his foot to get out. “Uh, what is...”

The Doctor smiled and moved forward as the car bounced down the porch steps. “Oh, what a beauty.”

Everyone gathered around the little car as it stopped next to the Impala’s front tire.

Bobby shut the door to his house tight. “What happened?”

Castiel looked up from the little Pirus. “The Impala and the TARDIS appear to have produced a child.”

Amy squealed and bounced. She grabbed Rory’s arm. “She’s so cute. She’s even the same blue as the TARDIS.”

The growing car honked and charged Amy’s ankles.

The Doctor patted it on its roof. “He says his name is Cobalt and he’d rather not be called cute.”

Dean sat heavily on the porch steps. “Cobalt?” He blinked and looked from the Impala to the TARDIS. “A child.”

Sam frowned. “How does that even work?”

The Doctor turned from petting Cobalt to walk over to Sam. “Well, when two beings love each other very much...”

“Doctor.” Amy came over to pull on the Doctor’s sleeve. “I think he means how does a box and a car have a baby...car.” She looked at Cobalt. “He is a car, right?”

The Doctor cocked his head and raised his eyebrows. “Well, he’s speaking car.” He circled the Pirus. “He’s growing like a TARDIS, though, much, much faster than normal.”

Castiel leaned against the Impala’s front bumper next to Dean. “Cobalt is a hybrid.”

Dean snorted, laughed a little, and then coughed. He held up his hands as everyone looked at him. “Sorry. Pirus’ are hybrids. That’s all.” He rubbed the side of his face. “So, this...Cobalt...came from my baby?” He twisted to look at his car and then back at the...baby. “Seriously?”

****


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trouble with babies? They grow up so quickly.

****

Dean sat on Bobby's porch steps watching Cobalt make rings around the TARDIS and his car. The Doctor came to set down next to him. "Hey, Doc." Dean nodded towards the TARDIS. "When did you play chess with Lucifer exactly?"

"For him before he became Satan. For me?" The Doctor clasped his hands between his knees. "Last week."

Dean eyed the Doctor. "Why? What were you bargaining for?"

The Doctor smiled. "What does anyone play against the Devil for?"

Dean frowned. "You said you did it before he went bad. Does that mean whatever you won from him still counts?"

With a smile, the Doctor stood up. "We will see, won't we?"

Dean raised his eyebrows as the Doctor walked away a few steps. "We?" He shook his head as the Doctor turned back and came to sit back down. "Oh, that doesn't sound good at all, Doc."

****

Sam pulled his feet up as Cobalt made another pass. "He's still getting bigger."

Rory pulled his legs up under himself as Cobalt came around again. "I wonder if he needs petrol."

Amy crowded against the front bumper of the Impala as Cobalt zipped past again. "Why is he just going around in circles?"

They all looked at each other and shrugged. Amy waited for Cobalt to go by and hurried across the yard to sit by the Doctor and Dean.

"Doctor, why is Cobalt going around in circles?"

"Running the engines in. Probably."

Dean gave the Doctor a funny look. "Probably?"

The Doctor flapped his hands as he spoke. "He will probably refuel like the TARDIS. He'll need to run in his temporal engines once he's full sized."

Amy tilted her head. "Doctor. When you ran in the TARDIS' engines you came back twelve years later." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Years!"

"Well, that's no reason to think that Cobalt will drift forward in the timelines."

Dean watched Cobalt skid to a halt, now the proper size for a normal Prius. "So, you're saying time travel sucks. Tell me something I don't know."

Sam slid off the Impala's bumper and opened Cobalt's driver door. He stuck his head inside. "Well, he looks like a normal Prius."

The Doctor lifted his chin. "Perception filter."

Sam looked at the Doctor as he sat down in the driver's seat. "What does that mean?"

Dean started to stand. "Sammy..."

Cobalt's door snapped closed and the car disappeared.

"Sam!" Dean moved forward towards the spot where the car had been. He turned to the Doctor. "Where'd they go?"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and did a quick scan. "Temporal signature. They've moved in time."

Dean stomped across the yard, right up to the Doctor, and glared up at him. "Are they coming back?"

****

Sam gasped, fumbled his seatbelt on, and gripped the steering wheel. "Uhm. Not good." He bit his lip as the blue swirls around them disappeared and they were suddenly driving down a road. "Okay. Slightly better. I want to go back to Dean." He patted the dash board. "Please?"

The radio clicked on and a woman's voice sang, "Wait just a minute."

Sam leaned his head against the head rest and raised his eyebrows. "You can talk."

"Yes, I could," came a man's singing voice.

"Could?" Sam ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, okay. Uhm..." He looked around them as Cobalt turned left down a dirt road. "Where are we going?"

"Stairway to Heaven."

Sam ran a hand over his face. "Okay, you are making no sense." He frowned as along the road they started to pass floating lights. "What are those?" He pressed a hand to the window as they past a big light. "What..."

Ahead of them a large light was just starting to break apart. They were headed right at it.

"Uhm. We're going to hit that." Sam tried to turn the wheel, but nothing budged. "Please, please, uh, Cobalt, I don't think hitting the light is a good idea!"

They hit the light and it became so bright Sam covered his face with his hands as he yelled.

****

Bobby came out of his house as Dean threw up his hands and went across to the Impala.

"You don't know if they are coming back!?" Dean turned back and pointed at the Doctor. "You know my name! What the fuck for?" He gestured to the yard between them. "Sammy was just getting better about maybe being Satan's meat-suit. And you!" He fumed, turning and leaning against the Impala.

The Doctor looked at Bobby and then back at Dean. "It..." He pursed his lips. "It is spoilers if I explain why I know your name."

Amy's eyebrows drew together. "Spoilers?" She sat down on the porch steps. "Foreknowledge. He can't tell you, Dean. It could change the future."

Dean glared at them. "I don't care!"

The Doctor pulled on his jacket lapels. "You do care." He smiled. "I know it won't seem like it, but if you let time go like it is going now. It'll be fine in the end."

Dean huffed. "Fine doesn't cut it, Doc." He leaned his hands on the Impala's hood and dropped his head forward. Then he straightened up. "Right now Sammy is looking at being the Devil's tuxedo. And I'm looking at letting the archangel Michael take me just so he can kill my brother along with his brother." He crossed his arms. "I could use a spolier or two here."

There was a zapping sound and a woman appeared beside Dean. She looked around and then up and down Dean. "Ah, good. I got it right then." She smiled at him. "Hello there, gorgeous."

The Doctor moved across the yard. "River!"

She turned and smiled at him. "Yes? Where are we for you?" She pulled a blue book from her pocket, opened it, and started flipping. "Let's see..."

The Doctor took River by the elbow and pulled her away from Dean. "River, you can't be here."

She looked at him. "Of course I can. I am. Also, you told me to come."

"I did?"

River smiled. "You will." She cocked her head. "You said it was important for my expedition next week to the Library." She turned towards her parents. "You'd love it. A whole planet of books."

Behind River, the Doctor's knees had given way and he was half leaning against the Impala. Dean pulled him upright. Rory saw this over River's shoulder and ushered her into Bobby's house.

"A whole planet you say? Really?" Rory pushed Bobby in with them and pulled the door shut.

Amy hurried over to the Doctor. "What? What is it? Are you alright?"

The Doctor pulled himself upright. "Yes, yes. I'm...fine. I'm alright, Amy."

Dean held onto the Doctor's elbow. "You aren't fine. What just happened?"

The Doctor bit his lip and looked at Amy. Then he turned towards Dean. "When you know something is coming that you can't change...It..."

Amy looked towards the house and back to the Doctor. Then she closed her eyes. "Backwards."

Dean frowned. "What?"

She sighed and patted the Doctor on the shoulder. "He and River are going mostly backwards to each other. The first time he mets her would be the last time she..." Amy covered her mouth. "She dies."

The Doctor grimaced. "She...I can't fix it. She's an echo in a datacore." He looked at Amy. "I'm so sorry..."

"Stop." Amy pulled on the Doctor's arm. "It already happened for you, right? She, what, saved you by dying?"

The Doctor sighed. "She saved Donna, four thousand people, and, yes, me." He wiped his hand down his face. "She knocked me out, handcuffed me to a pipe, and took my place. I was going to..." He looked at his feet. "I was going to kill myself to save them. I wasn't this face yet."

"Wait..." Amy cocked her head.

Dean smirked. "Handcuffs. My kind of woman."

The Doctor shoved on Dean's shoulder with his own. "Oi! That's my wife."

"Wait, wait." Amy narrowed her eyes as she thought. "If you died before you met me, then River wouldn't have been born. And...Oh, she knew that, didn't she?"

The Doctor sighed. "And she doesn't know it now."

Dean scratched his head. "Why would you tell her to come here?"

****

River picked up a cup and sat it back down. She took a seat at the kitchen table and took the holy water Bobby offered with a small smile. "He's fretting, isn't he?"

Rory sat across from her. "A little, yes. He always does. Where are you exactly?"

She sat down her cup and smiled at Bobby. "See? Not a demon." She turned back towards Rory. "Well, Father, dear, I am a Professor. Don't tell the Doctor that though. He'll never let me hear the end of it if he finds out I'm an archeologist."

Rory nodded. "That's how you keep score."

She smiled. "Sometimes. Cobalt will be back in a bit. He'll have along a small problem. I'll need to borrow Cobalt for a short while and then I'll bring him back." She leaned back. "He'll eat petrol, but he doesn't need it."

"Oh." Rory made an oh, okay face. "That's cheaper at least."

River laughed. She stood and patted Bobby on the shoulder. "You can quit fretting. The world won't end. Just don't tell them you know that, uhm?"

Bobby adjusted his hat. "You know that for sure?"

"Oh, yes, I do." She moved into the living area and started poking through the books. "There's a book you're going to need..."

Rory put his face in his hands.

****

Sam opened his eyes and they were driving through the blue swirls again. "Okay." Beside him there was a groan. Sam turned his head and stared. "That's...impossible."

The radio clicked on. "It will be only highly Improbable."

Sam looked at the dash where the map should be displayed in a normal Prius and frowned. "Will be?"

In the passenger seat, Gabriel put a hand to his forehead and moaned in pain. "Did I get hit by...a truck?"

Sam rubbed at his temple. "Uhm, no. Just a Prius. We thought you were dead."

Gabriel looked down at his chest and rubbed at the spot where there was a bloodstain. "I got stabbed." He looked around. "I should be dead. It was Luci's sword. It..." He cocked his head. "You're in a TARDIS?" He turned towards Sam. "You _stole_ a TARDIS?"

Sam shook his head. "What? No!"

Gabriel petted the dash in front of him. "Well, it isn't a bad idea, I mean you could probably keep Luci wondering around one for a while at least..." He stroked the dash down to the window controls on his door. "You aren't all TARDIS. Holy fuck!"

****


	4. Chapter 4

****

 

River stepped back out of Bobby's house with a bucket and rag. She walked across the to TARDIS. "Hello, old girl." She wiped down the TARDIS' doors and then changed the water in her bucket before heading over to the Impala.

Dean came up beside her as she started wiping down the tires. "What are you doing?"

River smiled up at him. "She doesn't like her hubcaps to be dirty. I'm just helping."

He pulled a rag out of his pocket and knelt down to help. "Why are you really here?"

"The Doctor called me." River checked over her shoulder to see the Doctor and Amy across the yard talking in low voices. She turned back to Dean. "This is a spolier for you. Your brother saves the world, but I can't tell you how."

Dean scrubbed harder. "Okay, fine. That doesn't tell me why you are here."

She rewetted her rag. "Cobalt is special, just like his parents. He has properties that neither of them have. The Doctor seems to think I need to let Captain Jack Harkness burrow Cobalt for an errand for the Doctor. Why he can't just do it himself I don't know, but if it is bad enough he has to send the man that can't stay dead to do it I know that it needs to be done."

"Can't stay dead?"

They moved to the next wheel.

River shrugged. "He's a human from the future that traveled with the Doctor. Something happened while they were stopping something nasty from happening and Jack died. Then he came back." She looked at Dean. "He just keeps coming back, the poor man."

Dean nodded. "Nothing kills him permanently?"

"No." The Doctor knelt down between them. "Jack has even been blown up, it didn't do much more than take him a little longer to wake up." He touched River's elbow. "River..."

"I'm not going anywhere." She handed him the rag she'd been cleaning with. "Here, help clean the Impala."

The Doctor sighed as River headed across the yard to Amy. 

"Women, huh, Doc?"

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Yes." He nodded as he looked at Dean. "Hell in high heels, she is."

****

Gabriel ran his fingers over the dash. "He is awesome, Sam."

"Uh, thanks?" Sam patted the dash again. "Cobalt, can we go back to Dean now?"

The radio clicked on and sang, "The fun future is the past."

Sam looked at Gabriel. "Do you have any idea what he means?"

Gabriel shrugged. "He's an eleventh dimensional matrix, Sam. Be happy you are getting English."

"Right." Sam looked out the windows at the blue swirls. "Do you know where we are?"

"Looks like the Time Vortex to me." Gabriel leaned against the door on his side. "So, Sam. How exactly did you come to have an almost-TARDIS?"

"It's Dean's fault." Sam half-turned in his seat and reach across the back seat of the car. "Huh. It is bigger than it looks from the outside."

"TARDIS' all do that." Gabriel pointed as the blue swirls started to condense. "Looks like we are going somewhere."

They appeared on a road and Cobalt slid to a stop. Sam started to reach for his door handle when out of the trees to the right of the car burst a group of people brandishing weapons.

Gabriel leaned towards Sam. "You might try driving, Sam."

"Uh. Right." Sam shifted into drive and Cobalt shot down the road. "You drive just like Dean's car."

Gabriel snorted. "Let me guess. Dean let the Impala near a full fledged TARDIS."

"They ran away together. Dean was not happy." Sam frowned as the road in front of them disappeared suddenly leaving a field. "Where are we?"

Gabriel rolled down his window and stuck his hand out of the car. "Don't try this with your window. I don't know if he can handle the conversions for a human." He pulled his hand back in a closed the window. "We're in a dead-end timeline."

"A what?" Sam eased Cobalt forward through the field. "How is it a dead-end?"

"LIttle loop that an angel pushed out. Feels like Zach's doing." Gabriel frowned. "Sam, turn left."

Sam turned them and as they passed through a stand of trees and appeared in a small camp. Sam stared at the damaged Impala across the new road from them. "Gabriel, this looks like that future Dean was in for three days."

Gabriel nodded. "Yep, there he goes." He pointed at Dean and the future version of Dean walking towards a cabin.

Sam started to open his door. "We..."

"Stop."

Sam froze. He frowned at Gabriel. "We need to talk to them."

"No." Gabriel sighed. "Look, timelines are finicky things. If you change it for your Dean, which is in the past for _you_ then you change your past. It'll work, but usually not like you want it to."

Sam watched the future version of Castiel walk past them without even noticing. "Shouldn't he be able to tell we're here."

Gabriel leaned his elbow against his door and propped his head on his hand. "Yeah, if he had any angel left." He tapped the dash with his free hand. "Hey, Cobalt, what are we here for?"

"Friends forever." The radio clicked off after dragging out forever.

Sam gave Gabriel a look. "Did it make any sense to you?"

Gabriel frowned and narrowed his eyes as he watched Castiel sling his arm around a woman's shoulders. "Maybe."

****

River settled next to Amy. "How are you?"

Amy smiled with her pressed together. "Fine."

"You don't look fine."

Amy sighed. "Sometimes being a time traveler sucks."

"Yes." River tipped her head towards the Doctor. "He is worrying me. He's never completely nice unless he _knows_ something is coming for the person he's nice towards."

"Yeah. I've noticed that."

River nodded. "He's being nice to me, Mother." She ran her fingers through her curls. "I don't know what is going to happen, but when it does I'm going to yell at him."

Amy laughed for a moment. "You do that."

River checked her watch. "Here we go." She stood up. "Doctor! You and Dean need to move, please."

The Doctor and Dean moved across the yard to the porch just as the sound of tires squealing filled the air. Between one second and the next Cobalt appeared in the yard and skidded to a stop beside the Impala.

Dean hurried over and yanked the driver's door open. "Sam?"

Sam grinned as he climbed out of the car. "Huh, hi."

Dean grabbed him into a hug. "You idiot."

"Oh, hello there." The Doctor waved as Gabriel got out of the other side of Cobalt and pulled a ragged looking Castiel from the back seat.

"Hey, Doctor. Long time no see." Gabriel pushed Castiel ahead of himself as Cas came from the house with Rory and Bobby.

Castiel smiled wide at Bobby. "It is nice to see you alive."

Dean stared at Castiel from beside Sam. He elbowed Sam in the ribs. "What did you do?"

Sam elbowed back. "It was Cobalt. And a little bit Gabriel."

Gabriel held onto Castiel as his legs gave out. "It isn't my fault Cobalt yanked me out of my death." He eased Castiel to the ground. He looked towards Cas. "Hey, bro, are you feeling normal?"

Cas nodded. "I've fallen. I feel normal for that."

Castiel on the ground laughed. "This is cruel, Gabriel."

River pulled Castiel to his feet. "No, dear. It's important. Come along. You are my errand to run." She put him into the passenger side of Cobalt and then she opened the driver's door. "I'll be right back for all of you." She blew a kiss to the Doctor. "Later, Sweetie."

****


	5. Chapter 5

****

Gabriel settled on the porch steps as Dean looked Sam over like the little yenta he was. "He's fine, Winchester."

Dean turned and glared at him for a moment before huffing. "Why you?"

Gabriel watched the Doctor watching him. "Why me what?"

Dean frowned and turned more towards Sam. "Why did Cobalt save you?" He scratched the back of his neck. "And why the other Cas?"

Castiel settled beside Gabriel on the steps, arranging his trenchcoat to hide his knees. "I do not understand Cobalt's reasoning on acquiring the other version of myself, Gabriel."

Gabriel shrugged. "He's an eleventh dimensional matrix. I'm just happy he knows a decrete edge and didn't try to come into this plane half in the house."

The Doctor shuddered and Amy patted him on the arm before she cocked her head at Gabriel. "Soooo, you're an angel?"

Gabriel looked down at his tattered jeans and picked at the hole in the knee. "Sometimes." He lifted his chin towards Sam. "Saved the world yet, Sam?"

****

River Song allowed Cobalt to drive as she rummaged in her bag. "You would think the man would tell himself what's going on, but no, of course not."

Cas leaned against the passenger door and frowned at her. "Are you driving?"

She glanced up at him. "Oh, honey. We need to stop in and talk to your Father and see if the stubborn ass will let you have some of your Grace stuff back." She pulled a sonic screwdriver from her bag. "The Doctor gave this to me just last night. Keep track of it, he says. Don't you dare lose it, he says." She tucked the screwdriver under her chin as she shifted to put the purse under her seat. "I'm going to miss my spaceship for my expedition tomorrow if I don't get this all done in time."

Cas quietly watched her until Cobalt was suddenly on a road, following a small black SUV that said Torchwood on the back. "I don't understand why I'm important in this. I'm...as human as I can get." He rubbed his thumb across the palm of his hand. "I should be dying with my Dean."

River made an understanding noise as the SUV pulled over. "Maybe one day you will, but right now we're trying to save the Dean that goes with the you that you just met. Do you want that Castiel to lose Dean?"

Cas blinked. "No." He frowned as they pulled alongside the SUV and a man stepped out in a long dark coat.

River rolled down her window as the man stepped around the car. "Captain Jack Harkness."

He squinted at her and then put his hand on the butt of his pistol. "Dr. River Song. Aren't you supposed to be in prison?"

She smiled wide and tossed her curls. "The Doctor made sure my pardon went through." She put her hand out the window and patted the outside of her door. "You know what this is?"

Jack cocked his head. "Looks sort of like the TARDIS with a broken perception filter."

"He's the TARDIS' child."

"What?" Jack motioned to his team to stay put as they started to ease out of the SUV. "What are you talking about? The Doctor told me once that they never came in male."

River smiled. "Listen, Jack, this is important. His name is Cobalt and he'll save Ianto if you help me when I come back to ask. Time travel sucks sometimes, but trust the Doctor..."

Jack scuffed. "Trust the Doctor? Really? He..." Jack stilled. "What do you mean about Ianto?"

With a shake of her head, River started to roll the window back up. "Spoilers. Please, Jack, for...Rose, alright?"

Jack's hand started to shoot out to grab her, but he hit an invisible barrier where the window would be when it was rolled clear up. Jack glared. "Ianto nearly died today because a bunch of humans with a taste for people so don't play with me Dr. Song. I know why you were in prison and I don't think you want the Doctor knowing..."

River shook her head as she stopped the window closing. "It's complex. Time knots usually are. Look, Jack, I'm not messing with you. I'm not. I just...The Doctor didn't give me a fast way to get you to trust me. He said I had to come and then come back. I don't like it either, but he was nearly in tears when he recorded the video that he sent."

Jack rocked back on his heels. "He doesn't cry for just anything."

"No, he doesn't." River started the window rolling up again. "For what it is worth...I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack sighed. "Yeah. I'll be waiting for you."

****

River sighed as Cobalt parked. "I can't get out here. Go on."

Cas looked around them and frowned. "Where is this?"

River shrugged. "I don't have a frame of reference for it." She pushed on Cas' shoulder. "Out."

Cas looked bewildered, but he pulled the door handle for his door and stepped out.

****

Dean sat down next to Castiel. "Hey."

"Dean." Castiel turned his head to look at Dean. "You are troubled."

"A little." Dean shrugged his jacket off and leaned forward, bracing his forearms across his thighs. "The future you had a crappy life because of shit I did."

"Not what you did. What a future version of you did."

Dean wrinkled his nose. "Close enough. I...You're my friend, Cas." He scrubbed his hands across his face. "I don't want you thinking that I'd choose one of you to like better." Dean sighed as he flopped backwards to lay on the hood of the car they were leaning against. "Such a chick-flick moment."

"If you were to like the other version of me, that would not reflect badly on either of us, Dean. He is what I could become. That you would still consider me a friend as fallen as that..." Castiel looked out over the yard. "I am proud to call you my friend."

"Oh." Dean looked down at his hands. "Huh." He slipped off the hood of the car they were sitting on. "I, uh, I'm proud you are my friend, too." He shifted. "I need to...uh, go..."

Castiel watched Dean scurry away. "Gabriel."

Gabriel settled where Dean had been. "I'm still not sure why he's the Righteous Man."

"He simply is, Gabriel." Castiel looked at Gabriel. "You are well?"

Gabriel ran a hand down his chest. "Yeah. All in one piece." He rubbed his ear. "Listen, Cas..." He dropped his hand to his lap. "Quit worrying about what Heaven thinks. It won't save him or the world. And if you can't save both then you'll lose him."

Castiel looked up at the sky. "I have a possible plan. It is...something unprecedented."

Gabriel nodded. "Rewrite the story. Make it up as you go along." He pulled Castiel into a hug. "Sounds good to me, Cas."

****

River shaded her eyes as Cas got back in Cobalt. "Better?"

Cas blinked. "Better." He looked down at his hands. "I am loved."

River patted his arm as Cobalt started driving forward. "Yes, you are."

They skidded into the blue swirls of the Time Vortex and down through it in a sideways skid. River ignored that in favor of running a quick scan with her sonic screwdriver over Cas.

"Well, you look powered back up. Do you feel okay?"

Cas smiled. "Yes." He looked around as they came out into space.

River took over the driving to get them docked with the space station they were heading to.

****

Sam ignored Dean as he looked him over for injuries again. "I'm fine, Dean."

Dean nodded and tugged at Sam's arm. "Yeah, I just...Cobalt comes and goes like Cas can. I..." He frowned and pressed his lips together. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yes." Sam pushed down his irritation. He understood Dean's need to reassure himself that Sam was really there. He'd felt that way about Dean after Dean had come back from Hell. "Yes, I'm okay. I promise. Alright?"

Dean frowned as he nodded. "Was it cool?"

Sam blinked. "What? Time travel?"

Dean mimed driving. "Driving through time." He grinned wide at Sam. "Think of all the stuff you could see, man."

Sam had and it made him sick with dread at how much of history was the Doctor's fault. "It was mostly Cobalt driving. He talks too. Sort of."

Dean looked up at him. "Sort of?"

With a shrug, Sam watched Gabriel and Castiel talk. "He used tenses wrong mostly. And he didn't always make literal sense."

Dean nodded. "Probably because he's a matrix brain."

Sam turned to stare at the side of Dean's head. "What?"

Dean glanced at him and then seemed to realize what he'd just said. "Uhm. Nothing."

"No, Dean." Sam snagged Dean's shirt so he couldn't just walk away. "What do you mean?"

"I, uh, liked a sci-fi series of books that had a matrix brained aliens in it. They had five brains." Dean nodded towards the TARDIS. "If she's got eleven brains to go with the dimensions, which would make sense, then she can't think in just four dimensions like we do." Dean shrugged. "They'd be ahead and behind and right with you all at the same time. Wrong tenses would be the smallest problem with talking to them."

Sam blinked. "Huh." He tired to think about it and kept getting stuck on Dean liking a book well enough to read the whole series. "You still have those books?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. "What? No teasing me about reading?"

Sam shook his head. "Not right now." He frowned at the utter surprised expression Dean had. "What?"

Dean snorted. "Nothing." He turned towards the house.

Sam followed, unsettled thoughts tumbling around in his head.

****


	6. Chapter 6

****

John Winchester sighed as he put down his journal to look across the room to his sleeping boys. Dean was curled around Sammy and frowning in his sleep. John scrubbed a hand through his hair. Maybe he should take them back to Missouri's house. Dean had been more talkative there.

John went over and adjusted the blankets so they covered the kids better. He pressed a kiss into Dean's temple and then sat back down.

John tried to concentrate on the news articles he needed to have put away before Dean woke up and could possibly see them.

Outside there was a screech of tires. John frowned and went to the window to look out, being careful not to disturb the salt line. In the parking lot was a weirdly shaped little blue car.

John stared at it and jerked when a knock sounded on his room door. Hurrying over and picking up his handgun on the way, John checked the peephole and raised his eyebrows at the ordinary confused looking man standing there.

John opened the door a crack. "Hello?"

"Hello, John Winchester."

John narrowed his eyes. "How do you know my name?"

The man shrugged. "It does not matter."

"Yes, it does." John cocked his head. "What are you?"

"An angel of the Lord." The man snorted. "Not that He cares." He put his hand in his pocket. "You will raise your boys to your newly found life of hunting. Might I suggest that you teach the elder one to consider himself worth as least as much as the younger one."

John bristled and pointed his gun at the man. "What are you talking about?"

With a roll of his eyes, the man pulled a necklace from his pocket. "The Doctor asks you to make sure this stays in your family." He knelt and sat the necklace down just outside of the salt line. "Do remember what you owe the Doctor." Then he straightened and disappeared.

John stood, frowning down at the necklace, the little rose pedant a prefect shade of red, for a long time.

****

River patted Cobalt's roof as she leaned down. "Be careful to let him do the landing."

Castiel, the future version, gingerly put his hands on the steering wheel. "I will be careful."

River smiled. "Good. And remember, Castiel, that Dean isn't the one that you left behind. Don't lose sight of which Dean you are dealing with."

Castiel's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I am aware."

River nodded and closed Cobalt's door. She watched him disappear into the Vortex and then she turned to pack. She had an spaceship to catch for her expedition to the Library.

****

Captain Jack Harkness cursed himself as he hauled a limp body down the trench he was in. "What the bloody hell am I doing? Saving stupid idiots so they can have a kid that has kids that save the world." 

The man failed weakly in Jack's arms. "Winchester. I'm..."

"I know. Shut up right now and focus on breathing." Jack hit the end of the trench and carefully stuck his head up, taking stock of the area. He knew from road map Cobalt had given him that there was a medic's station just across the field.

"I've been hit."

"Yes, I know." Jack adjusted his hold on Winchester to make sure he was covering the man as they came out of the trench. "I'm taking you a medic. Be quiet."

Jack jerked as a bullet hit him in the back, but he kept going. He scrambled down another trench and up into a fortified farmhouse that was housing the medic station. "I need a medic!"

A wary faced man took Winchester from Jack. "Shit. You've got hit too."

"I'll be fine. Just work on him."

The man grabbed Jack. "I've heard that before. Come on. I'm Rory. We'll patch both you Yanks up."

****

Dean sat at Bobby's kitchen table trying to place why Amy looked familiar. "You travel with the Doctor a lot?"

She smiled and took a sip of her tea. "Whenever possible." She sat the cup down. "Why do you ask?"

Dean shrugged. "I must have met someone who looks like you when I was a kid."

Amy straightened up and folded her arms on the table top. "What do you remember?"

"It wasn't anything important. This redhead in line behind me at the grocery store had the exact amount I was short once. It was my birthday and I was splurging our food money on a small cake and some ice cream." Dean frowned down at his coffee cup. "Dad didn't come back until late and I think he'd forgotten it was my birthday."

Amy looked over Dean's head to Rory. "How old were you turning?"

"Seven." Dean smiled. "I can't remember her face, but she told me to cheer up and have some ice cream."

Rory sat down on the other side of Dean. "Did your Dad say why he was late?"

"No. He came in with a black eye though, so he was probably hunting something."

"Probably." Amy stood and took her cup to the sink. "I'm going to bother the Doctor."

Dean watched her go with a frown. "Why did she say where she was going?"

Rory smiled. "She does that when she's about to attempt to break the universe. I think she thinks giving the universe a bit of warning is just being fair or something."

Dean gave Rory an odd look. "Why is she attempting to break the universe?"

Rory shrugged. "She just does sometimes."

****

Amy grabbed Sam's arm on her way past him down the porch steps. "You are coming with me."

"Woah...Okay." Sam followed so that his shirt didn't rip under Amy's nails. "Is there a reason why?"

"Oh, yes." Amy stomped over to the Doctor where he was replacing the bulb on top of the TARDIS. "Doctor."

"Yes?" The Doctor turned and cocked his head. "Amy, what are you dragging Sam around for?"

"I need you to take me somewhere and he's coming because he's got American money in his pockets."

The Doctor's eyebrows went up. "You could just use the TARDIS' credit card if you want something."

"This is before cards are widely accepted, I'm pretty sure. Besides. I might need him to protect me when I punch someone."

"What?" Sam tried to pry Amy's hand off his arm. "Why do you want to punch someone?"

"Even when I didn't have parents someone still remembered my birthday."

The Doctor's expression changed. "Oh." He climbed down his latter. "Come along, Pond. We should..."

"No." Amy pulled Sam with her as she stepped into the Doctor's personal space. "I told Dean to have an ice cream."

"You what?" Sam looked from Amy to the Doctor and back.

"Ah." The Doctor nodded and straightened his bow tie. "Well, in that case, you should be pleased you aren't in your nightie."

Sam tried to grab for the doorjamb as Amy followed the Doctor into the TARDIS. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

****

Dean patted Sammy's back as he slept to check that he was still deep in his nap. Dean went to the window and looked again for Daddy's car. Sighing, Dean climbed down, checked the salt line for damage, and then Dean put on his coat and forced the zipper to zip up.

He bit his lip as he pulled Daddy's extra stash of money from the back pocket of the extra weapons duffel. Dean carefully counted what was there and checked Sammy again before going out the door.

Dean locked the door behind himself and crossed the parking lot to the grocery store. He glanced at the big blue police box standing against the grocery store's wall between the vending machine and the coin operated horse ride. Wondering what sort of ride a box could give someone, Dean went into the grocery store.

He ducked past a huge guy making angry motions at a couple. Dean didn't give them a second thought as he looked over the cakes on display. 

"Can I help you, son?"

Dean looked up at the lady behind the counter. "It's my birthday. I wanted to get a cake and some ice cream."

The lady smiled in that brittle way that Dean knew meant he was worrying them.

"My Dad works nights and he's not up yet. I was supposed to wait, but I wanted to pick for myself."

"Oh. Well, then we'll have to find you the prefect cake." The lady came around the end of the counter and knelt down next to Dean. "How much do we have to work with?"

Dean held out his money. He knew it was better to look more childish with helpful adults. 

The lady counted his money and frowned as she gave it back. "Alright. Give me a minute, okay? You decide if you want chocolate or vinilla icing."

Dean sighed as she disappeared behind the counter. He was only going to be able to get the cake. He could tell by her tone. He looked over the cakes and stared at the marbled one. It looked really neat.

The lady came back. "Alright, tell you what. If we give you half of one this size..." She pointed at the one of smaller cakes on the shelf. "You'll have just enough for the smallest size ice cream we carry. Sound good?"

Dean beamed. "That's great." He turned his head at a choked sounding noise behind him, but all he saw was someone's side disappearing around the far end of the aslie. He turned back. "Can I have the swirly sort?"

The lady smiled. "Of course you can." 

Dean waited while the lady took a swirly cake down from a rack to cut and frost. He nearly bounced as she finished. He looked it over. It even said 'Happy Birthday' in blue icing. "Wow."

She smiled at him. "I'll take it up to the register for you, alright?" She pointed across the store. "Ice cream is that way."

Dean gave her leg a quick hug and then hurried, but no running, his mother had always said no running inside, towards the ice cream.

He got there and frowned. The smallest price was below an empty place on the shelves. He went up on tip toe trying to find something the same price. Dean bit his lip. He opened the door to the freezer and picked up the next cheapest one there was.

Dean trudged up to the register. He hoped he could talk them into letting him come back with the rest of the money. He could probably find enough under the machines in the laundry room of the motel. Maybe the parking lot. Something.

He heaved the ice cream up onto the counter. "The lady brought a cake up for me."

The bored looking man behind the counter rang up the ice cream and then the cake. "Yep, have it right here, kid. That'll be...Oh, I'll just count for you, alright?"

Dean nodded as he held out his crumpled money. He bit the inside of his cheek as the man counted and then recounted.

"Uhm." The man grimaced and knelt down to look Dean in the eye. "Look, kid, you don't have enough..."

"I'll cover him."

The man stood back up as Dean whipped around to see a pretty lady with red hair standing in line behind him.

"Ma'am, you don't have..."

She smiled that smile Dean's Mom had only used when she was really mad. "I said I would cover him. How much do you need?"

"Uhm." The man glanced at Dean and then looked back at the pretty lady. "Just a dollar and fifty-six cents."

She nodded as she picked through the coins in her hand. "The littlest coin is the dime, right?"

The really tall man behind her pointed. "That one."

"I know!" She smiled down at Dean. "I'm Scottish." She went back to poking at the coins. "This right?"

"Yes."

She held out the money to the worker triumphantly. As he put the money in his drawer she knelt down beside Dean. "Cheer up, Dean. Have an ice cream on me, okay?"

He nodded and grabbed up the sacks with the cake and ice cream and ran out before she decided to take back her money. Dean opened the door to the room and shoved himself, sacks and all, inside. He locked the door, redid the salt line and then froze. "How did she know my name?"

Dean climbed up into the chair beside the window and peeked out into the parking lot. The cars were all in the same spots, the vending machine, no people at all, the coin operated horse, and...Dean blinked. No blue box. Dean rubbed his eyes and looked again. Still no blue box.

Dean scrambled down and checked the sacks. Just the ice cream box. The cake in the other. Nothing extra, nothing drawn on anything. Dean put the cake on the little table and the ice cream in the seat of the chair. He pulled out silverware from the extra weapons duffel and pried open the top of the ice cream.

No sense wasting food even if it gave Dean the creeps.

****


End file.
